This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.
We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?
If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.
Latitude: 59.3596 / 59°21'34"N
Longitude: -2.4104 / 2°24'37"W
OS Eastings: 376767
OS Northings: 1052662
OS Grid: HY767526
Mapcode National: GBR N3DZ.Y7F
Mapcode Global: XH9S7.Y0DL
Entry Name: Southness, farm mound E of, North Ronaldsay
Scheduled Date: 1 March 2000
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Source ID: SM8647
Schedule Class: Cultural
Category: Secular: farm mound (Northern Isles)
Location: Cross and Burness
County: Orkney Islands
Electoral Ward: North Isles
Traditional County: Orkney
The monument comprises a substantial farm mound immediately to the E of Southness farm. A slight hollow running from E to W, which the modern dyke follows, divides the mound into two parts.
Farm mounds are a phenomenon of Arctic Norway but about 30 monuments which may be related are also known in Scotland, where they are confined to Sanday, North Ronaldsay and Papa Westray. They probably represent a settlement mound which has been occupied over many generations, where the decay of turf structures as well as the build-up of midden and manure has led to the creation of a mound. They date from the Iron Age and, predominantly, the medieval periods.
The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan and measures up to 60m from E to W by 90m transversely, to include the mound and an area around in evidence relating to its construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract. All modern above ground features - dykes and buildings - are excluded from scheduling.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
The monument is of national importance because it is a well-preserved representative example of the so-called 'farm mound' which is a distinctive feature of the Sandy, North Ronaldsay and Papa Westray landscape. Unlike many other farm mounds, Southness is largely free of later buildings, with the exception the farm of Northness, which has built on its NW limits. It has the potential to provide information about later prehistoric and Norse settlement and economic practices.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Bibliography
RCAHMS records the monument as HY 75 SE 18.
References:
Lowe, C. (1998) St Boniface Church, Orkney, Coastal Erosion and Archaeological Assessment (Alan Sutton), 9-11; 197-9.
RCAHMS (1980) The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Sanday and North Ronaldsay, Orkney, The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 11, 20, No. 112, Edinburgh.
Source: Historic Environment Scotland
Other nearby scheduled monuments